2 ms·

So basically they give NES 1MB RAM, up to 3.5GB of NAND-based ROM, expand the PPU capabilities within the supposed circuit complexity of the MMC5, and then proc

So basically they give NES 1MB RAM, up to 3.5GB of NAND-based ROM, expand the PPU capabilities within the supposed circuit complexity of the MMC5, and then proceed to argue it's not anachronistic and was even economically viable at the time? Roman Empire never came close to inventing communication networks despite having the economic incentives and long-range signaling tech, think about why.

Y_Y 3y ago
The Roman Empire was a communication network
zamadatix 3y ago
They seem to be largely modeling after the launched idea of the Sega CD, even more restrictively in some aspects e.g. CPU expansion. The Sega CD released 3 years prior to the given timeframe and offered just shy of 1 MB RAM with the same proposed CD + multi-disc support. The main improvement being the speed of the drive (The '91 Sega CD was 1x instead of 4x) and yeah, they don't do that over a literal CD drive but that seems to have more to do with not wanting to make a literal CD drive the same as using an FPGA isn't about using FPGAs as much as not needing literal ASICs be made. It's important to note they are talking about an imagined expansion to the system in 1994, not an alternative version of the console released in 1985. It's reasonably feasible to do something of this level at the time the question is more one of "would it really be sensible". With the SNES already being 4 years old at this point and the PlayStation releasing that same year anyways (with twice the RAM, 2x CD support, and a hell of a lot more compute) I can't think anyone would bother. At the same time, the project is explicitly not measuring by what people bothered with at the time and rather what the reasonable limits could have been.
- zoklet-enjoyer 3y ago
  It's a fantasy NES expansion like how the Pico 8 is a fantasy console. I think it's really cool, especially since the game will be coming out on a cartridge that's playable on a real NES
  - swetland 3y ago
    Yeah, the whole "what could we do with the original CPU and PPU of the NES given much more RAM and game data storage" experiment is pretty neat -- and based on what they've shown so far the results are quite impressive.
- nubinetwork 3y ago
  > Sega CD Would have been easier to make it a Turbografx CD game. It's got the 6502-like CPU and the CDROM interface just like they wanted.

Y_Y 3y ago

The Roman Empire was a communication network

zamadatix 3y ago

They seem to be largely modeling after the launched idea of the Sega CD, even more restrictively in some aspects e.g. CPU expansion. The Sega CD released 3 years prior to the given timeframe and offered just shy of 1 MB RAM with the same proposed CD + multi-disc support. The main improvement being the speed of the drive (The '91 Sega CD was 1x instead of 4x) and yeah, they don't do that over a literal CD drive but that seems to have more to do with not wanting to make a literal CD drive the same as using an FPGA isn't about using FPGAs as much as not needing literal ASICs be made. It's important to note they are talking about an imagined expansion to the system in 1994, not an alternative version of the console released in 1985. It's reasonably feasible to do something of this level at the time the question is more one of "would it really be sensible". With the SNES already being 4 years old at this point and the PlayStation releasing that same year anyways (with twice the RAM, 2x CD support, and a hell of a lot more compute) I can't think anyone would bother. At the same time, the project is explicitly not measuring by what people bothered with at the time and rather what the reasonable limits could have been.

zoklet-enjoyer 3y ago
It's a fantasy NES expansion like how the Pico 8 is a fantasy console. I think it's really cool, especially since the game will be coming out on a cartridge that's playable on a real NES
- swetland 3y ago
  Yeah, the whole "what could we do with the original CPU and PPU of the NES given much more RAM and game data storage" experiment is pretty neat -- and based on what they've shown so far the results are quite impressive.
nubinetwork 3y ago
> Sega CD Would have been easier to make it a Turbografx CD game. It's got the 6502-like CPU and the CDROM interface just like they wanted.